The Youth have an opinion too

by SHWETA KAMAT
Posted on 2008-09-08
While there is a lot of deliberation on which way Goa should go… the prime stakeholders of the state – the young crowd – have their own opinion. May it be the recent move to give Goa a special status or the brainstorming on the future of the state, the youn‘goa’istan (young Goans) always have their views to express, which, sadly are hardly heard.
“There is no doubt that Goa should remain green. But at the same time, we need to ponder on what will happen to the young generation. How are we going to create new jobs? We can’t remain isolated from the entire world and shun industrial growth forever,” says Dipti Verenkar, a Ponda resident, who is a science graduate from Farmagudi’s PES College and is still on the look out for a proper job.
It has been a year since Dipti got her graduation degree, which is ceremoniously kept in a file at home and taken out every now and then when she gets an interview call. “There is no job which can suit my qualification. I can tell you instances of girls who are working as packers in some industries at a meagre salary of 1,500 although they are graduates and extremely intelligent,” she rues.
The youn‘goa’istan crowd, as we can label them, has been literally migrating from the state to look out for better job opportunities, which can fetch them five figure salaries. A recent survey by the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GCCI) has specified that more than 95 per cent of engineering pass outs migrate to other states in search of jobs.
“There are so many families in Goa where the parents are left behind while the entire young lot work in call centres or software companies in Pune, Bangalore or Mumbai. In the name of industrialisation, what we got in Goa are polluting or less paying industries except for a few pharmaceutical firms,” Sachet Kamat, an engineering graduate, stated.
Kamat, who is down in Goa to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi with the family, will leave the state on Monday only to return for the next festival. ‘We love Goa. We want to be here. Nobody enjoys being away from family. But what are we to do?” he says.
While much intellectual churning is happening on Goa’s future, the voice of the young crowd is hardly heard. “Opposition to Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on the grounds that the lands were fraudulently allotted to them is fine. But how can we say that we don’t need IT firms? In case of the Rajiv Gandhi IT habitat, they should have deleted the controversial real estate part but should have maintained the IT industries,” says Kamakshi Shirodkar, who is currently working in an IT firm at Pune.
“Everyone in my hostel misses Goa. We had high expectations when the Wipro project was being spoken about in Goa or the IT habitat was being churned. But nothing is happening. We are made to truly wonder if we will ever get a chance to spend time with our parents,” says Kamakshi, who stays with five other Goan girls at a paying guesthouse in Pune city.
The youn‘goa’istan have a split view when it comes to special status. While there are few who opine that such a thing might freeze all the employment-oriented development in the state, many think that it’s the only option to preserve Goa.
“We may have to go through pain for a few days now. But we need to sit and think about our future.  Have a white paper on Goa’s requirement on employment front and than only decide the industrial policy or any other thing,” Satvijay Naik, a graduate from Miramar’s Dhempe college, said.
The youn‘goa’istan favours industrialisation – a ‘wise-industrialisation’ which will serve the Goan youths and which will arrest the ever-increasing migration outside the state. May it be a special status or industrialisation or any other policy decision, the young voices have something to say... but sadly aren’t heard by the policy makers…